"As often as my people repent will I forgive them"

What a promise, and also what a responsibility, we find for ourselves in Mosiah 26.

In this chapter, Alma wonders what to do with people who "are taken in iniquity" (v 34).  Mosiah the King rightly leaves the matter of sin (rather than crime) to the church, not the government to handle (v 12).

Alma receives an answer to his prayer "after he had poured out his whole soul to God" (v 14).  An in the answer is a wonderful explanation of the Atonement.  Whom does the atonement apply to?  And how often?

The answers are everyone and as often as they repent.  The promises of the Atonement are universal, infinite, and continuous.  "Whomsoever ye receive shall believe in my name; and him will I freely forgive.  For it is I that taketh upon me the sins of the world...and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me"  (v 22-23 and 30).  That is a tremendous promise that reinforces what we learned in the previous several chapters--namely that no matter what level of sin, no matter how long the sin continued, no matter what outside force caused recognition or compelled humility, the Lord will "receive with joy" all who return to Him.

But there is also a charge to us who would be forgiven, and that is to forgive those who trespass against us.  "Ye shall also forgive one another your trespasses; for...he that forgiveth not his neighbor's trespasses...the same hath brought himself under condemnation."

If we believe in the universality and infinity of the Atonement, how can we possibly look at any other person and not forgive them?  No matter what any individual has done to us or to anyone, the Atonement is sufficient for them, as much as it is for us.  Neither we nor those who have trespassed against us deserve the Lord's forgiveness, yet he grants it.  When we look at others, especially those who have trespassed, we should see the Savior's intercession on their behalf.  We should see not what sins they've committed or the evil they've done, but the Savior's wholeness and perfection, which is available to all, and is not for us to grant nor deny.

This is a hard lesson to apply, in my experience, especially when the choices of others have negatively impacted  me.  Yet, it's a lesson I must learn and an action I must take for I cannot expect the Savior to extend his grace to me if I expect Him to refuse it to another.